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Feeling kind of lightheaded with frustration because of someone responding to people talking about how much they relate to a thread on ADHD with "unless you've been diagnosed by a doctor, you probably don't have it. If you had it they'd diagnose you"
Really wondering if people who got diagnosed with ADHD as a child understand HOW HARD it is to get diagnosed as an adult. How many barriers there are, how hard it is to get a doctor to just LISTEN to you, not because you don't have it, but because of their biases.
I was never able to get super-duper-official ADHD testing because if you're an adult? That shit isn't often covered by insurance, and it's hundreds of dollars. Because adults don't have ADHD, I guess.
I spent years suffering from undiagnosed ADHD because I was so sure I was making it up, because "well, I've been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, SURELY a doctor would have caught this one by now"
Once I did start pursuing diagnosis, it was months of fighting.
Once I did start pursuing diagnosis, it was months of fighting.
I had doctors tell me I just needed to put my phone down. I had doctors tell me I must be fine since I graduated college. I had doctors and therapists tell me "it's just your anxiety"
Seriously try getting diagnosed as an adult femme-person with a documented anxiety disorder.
Seriously try getting diagnosed as an adult femme-person with a documented anxiety disorder.
I spent months trying to convince them that I do, in fact, know how my own anxiety works (I've only been living with it most of my life and being treated for it since I was like 20, but what do I know about my own brain) and that it wasn't anxiety.
And this was all with a FAMILY HISTORY OF IT. ADHD is incredibly common in families. I have two siblings. Both of them were already diagnosed and medicated for ADHD. We also already share other diagnoses AND take the same meds for those!
....but nooo I couldn't have ADHD
....but nooo I couldn't have ADHD
So, yeah, sometimes doctors don't diagnose you with ADHD because you don't have it. That's sure true.
Sometimes, they don't diagnose you because you're not a 10-year-old boy bouncing off the walls and that's all ADHD is, right?
Sometimes, they don't diagnose you because you're not a 10-year-old boy bouncing off the walls and that's all ADHD is, right?
Anyway I've been on Vyvanse for about a year now and it's not like I'm magically cured, ADHD is still hard as hell, but the difference is...pretty great. I can't describe how desperate I'd gotten and how bad my depression and anxiety were because of it.
OH also even with diagnosis and a successful year on Vyvanse my doctor still asked if I thought I "needed" it during quarantine. It was only when I said I was working from home that she agreed I did.
Because ADHD only affects work and school, not every. part. of your life.
Because ADHD only affects work and school, not every. part. of your life.
This was all really weird to me, tbh, because I'm on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds and no one's asked if I think I still "need" them. Like my brain chemistry hasn't magically changed. But apparently people do think you only "need" ADHD meds if you're working/in school.
They don't seem to understand that ADHD still exists even if you're only trying to do the dishes.
